


The Other Victorian

by Ruuger



Category: Babylon 5, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Crossover, Episode s02e21 Comes the Inquisitor, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-20
Updated: 2012-09-20
Packaged: 2017-11-14 16:19:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/517232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ruuger/pseuds/Ruuger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Sebastian enters the ship, there is a man waiting for him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Other Victorian

The ship was already singing when he entered the docking bay. 

Sebastian could feel Sheridan's eyes on him, could imagine the disdainful look on the Captain's face, but he kept on walking, stopping only when he reached the ship. 

The patterns on the ship's skin skin shifted, mesmerizing shapes of color racing across the hull like light reflected on the surface of a pond. Tendrils extended from the ship, wrapping him into their embrace, and gently pulled him inside. As he was carried through the barrier, he idly wondered how it was going to be this time. Sometimes, when he entered the ship, he was immediately put into sleep, woken only when the Vorlons next needed him. Other times, he was allowed to stay awake, and he stepped in to find himself in the company of other servants of the Vorlons. Mostly they were aliens, strange creatures whose nightmarish visage still terrified him after all these centuries, reminding him of the stories his mother used to tell him about demons that preyed on the souls of the righteous. 

This time, however, the only other occupant on the ship was a man, or at least looked like one. He was sitting on a small ledge, looking into the docking bay through a section of the hull that had been rendered translucent. For a moment Sebastian wondered if the man was one of the messengers themselves, but he was not wearing the angelic robes that the Vorlons wore when they appeared to him, being clad instead in a simple black shirt and trousers together with heavy boots and a long leather coat. 

Sebastian remained in his place, unsure what he was expected to do. He had been following the Vorlons' orders for so long that he barely had a will of his own anymore. Finally the man looked up, and then stood as he noticed Sebastian. He slipped his hand into his pocket and fished out a small packet. He tapped it against his palm to take out a cigarette, but then paused. For the briefest moment the song of the ship changed. 

The man rolled his eyes and cast an angry glare at the ceiling.

"What bloody sense does it make to let me go out and buy fags if you don't let me smoke them?"

He shoved the packet back into his pocket and looked at Sebastian.

"Do I know you, mate? You look familiar," he said, his eyes narrowing. "You didn't by any chance ever spend time in small Californian towns, did you?"

Sebastian shook his head in confusion. "No." 

The man's accent was familiar, bringing with it memories of the home that Sebastian had left behind so long ago. 

"Oh, well, better get started then" the man said, and lowered his voice with a mocking tone. "Who are you?"

"Sebastian," he replied, reflexively, and regretted his answer immediately. He of all people should have known better, but he was tired and confused, and the question had caught him by surprise.

The man stared at him for a few seconds, and then snapped his fingers. "From Heresford Lane? You had that little book shop, yeah?" He laughed. "Dru was right, wasn't she? It was you who killed all those girls. That's why the Vorlons got you. I had my money on Prince Albert, but it was you, wasn't it?"

Sebastian looked away. Once, he would have felt proud at being recognised, but the Vorlons had taught him humility and shame, and he felt the weight of his guilt pulling him like gravity. The man studied him for a while, and then rolled his eyes.

"Oh, fuck this." He pulled out his packet of cigarettes and lit one with a defying look towards the ceiling. "What do you want?"

Sebastian looked up, confused. It was wrong, the man was doing it all wrong. But he just looked at Sebastian expectantly. And Sebastian did have an answer, one that he'd been carrying it with him for centuries now, and not even the fires of hell could make him change his mind.

"Rest. I want to rest." 

The man tilted his head, and there was a curious look on his face, almost like understanding. 

The ship was singing, but the song, though still the same, was somehow different now. Wrong. There was a discord in its everpresent voice, a strange hollow note that brought chills down Sebastian's spine. For a fleeting moment he was reminded of the songs his mother used to sing him, but then it was gone, the song once again the same that it had always been.

The man closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, his face was different, harder, his blue eyes cold as ice. He let the cigarette drop from his fingers, crushing it under one heavy boot before closing the distance between him and Sebastian.

"Yes," he said, and took Sebastian's face between his hands, strong fingers digging into his flesh as the man leaned towards him, as if to a kiss. And then his face changed, a demon taking the place of the angel, but before Sebastian could even scream there was a flash of pain followed by suffocating pressure as the creature tore into his neck.

And around them, the ship was still singing.

**Author's Note:**

> My original idea was that the Vorlons send an inquisitor to test Sinclair while he's on Minbar, and that inquisitor was Angel, but the two of them would have just spent the whole fic brooding so I wrote this story instead. If anyone wants to write that Angel & Sinclair story, go for it!


End file.
